Next ‘09 | Christ’s Preeminence

“It’s one thing to say that Jesus is preeminent.  It’s another thing to live like Jesus is preeminent.” –Joshua Harris

In my Merriam-Webster’s Pocket Dictionary, the word preeminent means this, simply “having highest rank.”  A synonym for this word may be the priority.  When Josh Harris took the stage for Next 2009’s first session, he had a loaded topic to discuss. Many pastors, including his mentor, C.J. Mahaney, had preached on this topic before, even at New Attitude.  Yet, for the Christian, this old, old doctrine can never be outdated.  For while Jesus of Nazareth never ascended into nobility and died as a criminal, this man accomplished more in His lifetime than the human race has done in its 6,000+ year history.

Josh began his sermon recounting the basic details of Jesus’ time on earth.  He was born out of wedlock in Bethlehem and He grew up in Nazareth, the “hick town” of first-century Judea.  By twelve He was astonishing temple Rabbis by His knowledge of the Scriptures and by thirty He began His ministry.  He traveled no further than one hundred miles outside His hometown, performing miracles and teaching in the temple and in synagogues.  Eventually, huge crowds followed Him and He assembled a group of twelve close followers.  One of those followers, Judas Iscariot, betrayed Him to His enemies, the Pharisees, who had Jesus arrested and tried for blasphemy.  They flogged Him, mocked Him and nailed Him to a cross, where He died. On the Sunday after He was buried, He raised Himself from the dead and appeared to over 500 hundred eyewitnesses before ascending into heaven.  This is the Jesus we know and hear about.

But Josh’s first passage, Colossians 1:15-20 describes this same Jesus in a new light.  He was not some miracle man who lived in the first century but the image of the invisible God, preeminent in all things, the firstborn of the dead and the Creator and the reason for the universe.  This same Jesus, not some nice guy who died or some hippie who talks endlessly about spiritually ambiguous and emotionally driven doctrines, is the one whom we worship.

And it is this picture of Jesus that we lose in the everyday.  Rather than coming to Jesus, hearing His words and putting them into practice, He is another religious figure rather than what Peter called Him in Matthew 16:16, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!” or what Thomas called Him in John 20:28, “My Lord and my God!”  In order to love Jesus and have a deeper fellowship with God, you must work for it daily and live like Christ is preeminent.  The aim of this conference, Josh said, was to cultivate a deeper understanding of the Trinity’s second Person so that you may live and magnify Him in all that you do.  As His incarnation, life, death, resurrection and promised return testify, Jesus Christ matters more than anything else.  He is the main thing, and the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.

Tags'09, 2009, Christ, Colossians 1, David, Harris, Josh, Joshua, Next, Preeminence, Wells